Hughes-Hunter baronets

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The Hughes-Hunter Baronetcy, of Plas Coch (Welsh: Plâs Côch) in the Parish of Llanedwen in the County of Anglesey, was a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom.[1][2]

It was created on 5 December 1906 for Colonel Charles Hughes-Hunter,[3] a deputy lieutenant, Justice of the peace and fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Born Charles Hunter, he married Sarah Elizabeth,[4] daughter and heiress of William Bulkeley Hughes, and assumed in 1904 by royal license the additional surname of Hughes.[1][5] The title became extinct on the death of the second Baronet in 1951.

Plas Coch[edit]

Plas Coch, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, Wales.

The Hunter-Hughes baronets of Plas Coch, Llanedwen on Anglesey are descendants of an ancient family in Wales.[6][7] Namely Llywarch ap Bran, Lord of Menai (c. 1137-80) of the Menai Commote in the medieval Rhosyr cantref (hundred) on Anglesey. Llywarch was the founder of the second of Fifteen Tribes of Wales, steward (seneschal) and in-law to King Owain Gwynedd, and a descendant of Rhodri the Great.[8][9][10]

The location of Plas Coch (English: Red Hall) was known as Porthamel Issa (lower) and was once the seat of Llywarch ap Bran and his descendants from the 11th century. That was before 1569, the year of the hall's construction and renaming by the family heir, David Llwyd (Lloyd) ap Hugh (Hughes), a lawyer in London. The mansion is an earlier Renaissance type built with particular "ornate crow-stepped gables" and carved finials. Plas Coch was remodeled by David's son, Hugh Hughes, attorney general for North Wales in 1587, three times High Sheriff of Anglesey and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, however, Hughes was appointed by King James I of England to work in Ireland before he died, and he never served in office. The addition was of a tower was by Hugh Hughes I, it was added between 1590-1600. The manor house was remodeled by its occupants for the final time around 1820. The building work was done in the style of the original builder. The work was planned by the then owner, William Bulkely-Hughes, father of the wife of the first baronet Hunter-Hughes.[2][6][11] The home has many spandrels, one of them has the Coat of Arms of Llywarch ap Bran, the arms were later used by the Hughes of Plas Coch family.[2][7]

Coat of Arms of Llywarch ap Bran, and Hughes of Plas Coch.

The Elizabethan manor is now a Grade II* listed building and was sold as a dilapidated and moribund manor to be redeveloped by Donald Insall Associates in 2008-2009. The manor was converted into a luxurious leisure park. By 2010, the expenses were £9.5m for repairs and a new build. The total money spent was £18,000,000 for upgrading the surrounding grounds, including building a swimming pool and holiday homes.[12][13]

Hughes-Hunter baronets, of Plâs Côch (1906)[edit]

  • Col Sir Charles Hughes-Hunter, FRSE 1st Baronet (1844–1907)
  • Sir William Bulkeley Hughes-Hunter, 2nd Baronet (1880–1951)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b (Hardwicke 1919, p. 697)
  2. ^ a b c A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, p. 611-612, at Google Books
  3. ^ "No. 27971". The London Gazette. 27 November 1906. p. 8299.
  4. ^ "Sarah Elizabeth Hughes". geni.com.
  5. ^ "No. 27673". The London Gazette. 3 May 1904. p. 2839.
  6. ^ a b Cadw. "Plas Coch, Llanedwen (19736)". National Historic Assets of Wales.
  7. ^ a b RCAHMW, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Anglesey, p. 27,187,243, at Google Books
  8. ^ Major Francis Jones. "Arms of the XV Noble Tribes of North Wales". theheraldrysociety.com (36 ed.). Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  9. ^ "LLYWARCH ap BRAN (fl. c. 1137), founder of one of the 'Fifteen (Noble) Tribes of Gwynedd'". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales.
  10. ^ John Edwards Griffith (1985) [1914]. Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire families, with their collateral branches in Denbighshire, Merionethshire, and other parts. Wrexham: Bridge books. p. 30. ISBN 0950828556.
  11. ^ "Plas Coch, Llanedwen (15808)". Coflein. RCAHMW.
  12. ^ "Plas Coch, Anglesey, Wales". donaldinsallassociates.co.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Plas Coch". find-an-architect.architecture.com. Retrieved 21 October 2023.

Further reading[edit]